1. Science & Technology Grades 1 - 8 Spring 2007
Assessment and Evaluation for Improved Student Learning Provincial Training
Science & Technology Grades Spring 2007

2. Assessment and Evaluation Policy: Updated
Assessment and Evaluation of
Student Achievement
pp. 21 – 27
Basic Considerations (p. 21)
The Achievement Chart for Science and Technology (p. 23)
Note to Presenter: Slides
The 1998 Science and Technology curriculum introduced the achievement chart in a section entitled “Achievement Levels” (p. 12).
The 2007 document has updated that section. It is now entitled “Assessment and Evaluation of Student Achievement” and it is divided into two sections: “Basic Considerations” and “The Achievement Chart for S & T”

3. Basic Considerations:
The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning.
Note to Presenter: Slides
The Assessment and Evaluation section of the revised S & T curriculum contains the same policy that is stated in all of the revised elementary curricula (e.g. Social Studies, History, Geography, Mathematics, Language), so many classroom teachers will already have some familiarity with it.
There are some substantial additions:
Primary purpose – to improve student learning 3 3

4. Basic Considerations:
“Assessment” defined
Assessment is the process of gathering information from a variety of sources…that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations…Teachers provide descriptive feedback to guide students’ efforts toward improvement.
Note to Presenter: Slides
There are some substantial additions:
Assessment defined – note that it’s not just gathering information, but also includes the provision of descriptive feedback to students to help them improve their learning. 4 4

5. Basic Considerations:
“Evaluation” defined
Evaluation is the process of judging the quality of student work on the basis of established criteria, and assigning a value to represent that quality.
Note to Presenter: Slides
There are some substantial additions:
Evaluation defined – note that it’s not just the judging of the quality of student work, but also involves the assigning of a value to it. 5 5

6. Basic Considerations: Guiding Principles
Teachers must use assessment and evaluation strategies that:
Are varied in nature, administered over a period of time, and designed to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate the full range of their learning
Note to Presenter: Slides
These statements describe the criteria for valid and reliable assessment and evaluation strategies.
The following slides highlight some of the criteria. 6 6

7. Basic Considerations: Guiding Principles
Teachers must use assessment and evaluation strategies that:
Accommodate students with special education needs, consistent with the strategies in their IEP;
Accommodate the needs of students who are learning the language of instruction;
Note to Presenter: Slides 7 7

8. Basic Considerations: Guiding Principles
Teachers must use assessment and evaluation strategies that:
Ensure that each student is given clear directions for improvement;
Promote students’ ability to assess their own learning and to set specific goals;
Note to Presenter: Slides 8 8

9. Basic Considerations: The Curriculum Expectations
All curriculum expectations must be accounted for in instruction, but evaluation focuses on students’ achievement of the overall expectations.
Note to Presenter: Slides
The updated A and E policy clarifies the relationship between the Overall Expectations and the Specific Expectations, and how they are to be assessed and evaluated. The policy clearly states that:
“All curriculum expectations must be accounted for in instruction,”
What this means is that, when planning instruction and ongoing assessment, the learning activities must address all of the specific expectations.
However, when judging and assigning a grade to represent the level of the student’s achievement in Science and Technology, teachers must focuses on students’ achievement of the overall expectations.”
Teachers are not expected to, nor should they, evaluate students on the achievement of each specific expectation. 9 9

10. Basic Considerations: Guiding Principles
A student’s achievement of the overall expectations is evaluated on the basis of his or her achievement of related specific expectations.
The specific expectations have a role to play: they provide more definition and details of the content of the overall expectations. They are the focus for instruction and ongoing assessment, while the learning is taking place. 10 10

11. Building Blocks – Sign Posts- Evidence – Look Fors
Overall Expectations
This graphic represents the role of the overall and specific expectations.
The overall expectations describe in general terms the knowledge and skills that students are expected to demonstrate by the end of each course.
The specific expectations describe the expected knowledge and skills in greater detail.
They define the particular content or scope of the knowledge and skills referred to in the overall expectations.
They can be considered “building blocks” that provide the scaffolding for students to attain and demonstrate the learning of the overall expectation.
They are also “evidence” or “look fors” through which the teacher can ascertain if the student has achieved the overall expectations – the teacher decides how much/many are needed.
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Building Blocks – Sign Posts- Evidence – Look Fors

12. Overall Expectations Professional Judgement EVALUATION Specific
Teachers will use their professional judgement to determine which specific expectations should be used to evaluate achievement of the overall expectations,
and which ones will be covered in instruction and assessment (e.g., through direct observation) but not necessarily evaluated.
When planning, teachers will
identify the specific expectations that relate to the overall expectation being addressed;
determine which specific expectations will be used to evaluate the student’s achievement of that overall expectation.
It is not necessary to evaluate the student’s achievement of each individual specific expectation.
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations
Specific
Expectations

13. Basic Considerations: Levels of Achievement
Level 3 – Provincial standard
Level 1 – Much below standard but still a passing grade
Level 2 – Approaches the standard
Level 4 – Surpasses standard, but not beyond the grade
Note to Presenter: Slides
The revised Science and Technology curriculum clarifies the meanings of the Achievement Levels.
This is an opportunity to remind teachers that Level 1, which representing achievement that is much below standar, is still a passing grade.
At the other end of the range, Level 4 represents achievement that surpasses the standard (Level 3), but does not mean that the student has achieved expectations beyond the particular grade. 13 13

14. The Achievement Chart Intent of the revisions:
Promote consistency across grades and disciplines
Clearly define components
The revised curriculum provides a much more detailed description of the achievement chart, its purpose and structure.
The intent of the revisions to the achievement chart is to promote consistency across grades and disciplines.
e.g.
All categories have same titles: K/U, T, C, A – note that the S & T chart calls the thinking category “Thinking and Inquiry”
All achievement charts use the same four qualifiers for the four levels: limited, some, considerable and thorough/high degree
All achievement charts use the same descriptor of achievement: effectiveness. 14 14

15. The Achievement Chart
A standard province-wide guide to be used by teachers to make judgements about student work that are based on clear performance standards, and on a body of evidence collected over time
While some revisions have been made, the intent of the achievement chart has not changed.
It is still the standard province-wide guide to be used by teachers to make judgements about student work
that are based on clear performance standards and on a body of evidence collected over time.

16. The Achievement Chart The achievement chart is designed to:
guide the development of assessment tasks/tools
help teachers to plan instruction
assist teachers in providing meaningful feedback to students
assess and evaluate student learning
When we think of the achievement chart, we usually think of it in terms of assessing and evaluating student achievement. However, the policy reminds us that the achievement chart has a wide range of uses:
guide the development of assessment tasks/tools
help teachers to plan instruction
assist teachers in providing meaningful feedback to students
assess and evaluate student learning

17. The Achievement Chart Categories Levels Descriptors Qualifiers 17
There is much similarity between the formats of the old and the new achievement charts. For example, the chart is still comprised of:
4 Categories of knowledge and skills
4 Levels of achievement
Descriptors of achievement, and
Qualifiers linked to each level
In addition, each category now has added to it criteria, which provide more information about the category. 17 17

18. Achievement Chart: Categories
Represent 4 broad areas of knowledge and skills.
Interrelated, reflecting the wholeness and interconnectedness of learning.
Knowledge and Understanding
Thinking and Inquiry
Communication
Application
The categories of the achievement chart,
Knowledge and Understanding
Thinking and Inquiry
Communication and
Application
represent four broad areas of knowledge and skills within which the subject expectations for any given course are organized.
The four categories should be considered as interrelated, reflecting the wholeness and interconnectedness of learning.
Note to Presenters:
The handout entitled “Thinking Skills” provides further explanation of the criteria in the thinking category.
The handouts entitled “Action Verbs Associated with the Achievement Charts and Expectations within the Ontario Curriculum Policy Documents” and “Verb Product Chart” provide suggestions for linking the curriculum expectations and the achievement chart categories.

19. Achievement Chart: Categories
A statement providing clarification of the category has been added under each category name. This slide shows the statement for the Communication category, “The conveying of meaning through various forms”.

20. Achievement Chart: Descriptors
The descriptor indicates the characteristic of a student’s performance with respect to a particular criterion on which the assessment or evaluation is focused
Prior to the revision of the curriculum, there were a number of different descriptors in the achievement charts
In the revised Achievement Chart the only descriptor used is effectiveness
The word “effectiveness” is broad so that it encompasses the characteristic of performance for all grades and subjects or disciplines. The achievement chart is similarly broad in scope. It is a framework to be used in the assessment and evaluation of a body of evidence of student achievement.
It is not meant to be used as a day to day tool, to assess a single assessment task.
Instead, teachers use the achievement chart to develop the tools to assess a specific task or performance, for example, a rubric.
Indicates the characteristic of a student’s performance with respect to a particular criteria

21. Building a Rubric…
Teachers use the achievement chart to develop assessment tools, such as rubrics. When developing such tools, it is important to provide students with a more specific descriptor than “effectiveness”.
Pictured here is a portion of a task-specific rubric, designed to assess student performance in the communication category, on the criteria relating to use of conventions.
In the achievement chart, the descriptor is “effectiveness”
In the rubric, a more specific descriptor is used to describe the characteristic of the performance that is being evaluated – for example, relevance and appropriateness.
Note to Presenter: Refer participants to Handout – “Descriptors”

22. Achievement Chart: Criteria
Subsets of knowledge and skills that define each category.
The criteria identify the aspects of student performance that are assessed and/or evaluated (i.e., the “look fors”).
The “criteria” are the subsets of knowledge and skills that define each category
They identify the aspects of student performance that are assessed and/or evaluated – the “look fors”.
In the Achievement Chart, the criteria are purposely broad and all-encompassing because these become the “look for’s” for a body of work completed over time.
Here’s an example of the criteria in the Thinking and Inquiry category. The criterion is “Use of critical/creative thinking processes, skills, and strategies.”
The “look fors” for include analysing, interpreting, problem solving, evaluating, form and and justifying conclusions).
Examples are there to clarify or illustrate the criteria. They are intended as a guide rather than an exhaustive or mandatory list.

23. Achievement Chart: Qualifiers
Limited
Some
Considerable
Thorough/
High degree
A specific “qualifier” is used to define each of the four levels of achievement – that
is, limited for level 1, some for level 2, considerable for level 3, and a high degree or thorough for level 4.
The qualifiers have also been made consistent across disciplines.
The qualifiers are defined when they are joined with descriptors and accompanied by samples of student work.
The qualifiers are more clearly defined when teachers engage in collaborative dialogue about the criteria, the descriptors, the achievement chart categories and specific samples of student work.
A qualifier is used to define each of the four levels of achievement.

24. Next Steps
Between now and the date of your training session, have a discussion with your Board implementation team about the messages you heard here today and the sections of the Introduction you read at the beginning of the session.
Consider how you will use this information as part of your Board training sessions.
If you have questions that were not answered today, please bring them with you to your training session.
Note to Presenters: Pause here, to allow participants to record key ideas, responses, etc. on their placement organizers.
You may choose to provide stems such as:
Is there anything that you have seen in a different light?
Is there anything that you find particularly challenging?
Can you think of an example from your practice that illustrates this well?
An “aha moment”…
An idea that highlights an area of growth for me…

25. Joanie Causarano, Education Officer
CAP Branch
We look forward to seeing you at our sessions in April!
Paul Walsh, Education Officer
CAP Branch
John Ryall, Manager
Assessment & Reporting Unit